Late mistakes doom Plainview vs Ada

With a lead, and its 10th victory within reach, Plainview suddenly found itself unable to do the things that led to the nine wins it already had.

A sudden plague of untimely errors, improbable pitching mistakes and a cold streak at the plate cost the Indians in a 4-3, nine-inning home loss to Ada on Monday, just minutes after Plainview held a 3-1 lead with two outs in the seventh.

"No doubt, we gave away that game," Plainview coach Brent Hackney said. "We couldn't make the routine plays, couldn't throw strikes when we needed to, a lot of other things.

"Add all of those things up and it doesn't equal a great day of baseball."

On a blistering, windy afternoon that brought a constant gale from center field, it was difficult for either team to mount any sort of offensive attack. Plainview (9-5) earned an early advantage with some good small ball, tacking on sacrifice bunts and using an aggressive approach on the base paths to build a 3-0 lead in the third inning.

Ada found absolutely no breathing room against Plainview's starting pitcher James Bowker, who finished with a strong five innings while allowing just one hit and two walks against two strikeouts.

Things slowly turned sour after his departure from the mound. Reliever Drake Harper threw an efficient sixth before Reed Kinder hit a RBI single in the seventh, then was joined by two more Ada batters who reached when hit by Harper pitches. Harper plunked a third Cougar, cutting the lead to 3-2, before Ada tied the game on a suicide squeeze and forced extra innings.

In both the eighth and ninth, Plainview was unable to answer the call at the plate. Devin Hartman had the lone hit, a double into the right-center field gap with two outs in the eighth, but a weak ground ball back to the mound ended any potential rally.

In the top of the ninth, with Kyle Williams pitching for Plainview, the Indians allowed three consecutive errors in the infield that allowed Ada's Jake Boone to score the go-ahead run.